The Effects and Complications of Mitomycin-C for Prevention of Recurrence after Pterygium Operation

ABSTRACT

The most common problem in pterygium operation is the recurrence. Therefore radiation therapy or instillation of mitomycin-C after pterygium operation have used to prevent the recurrence of pterygium. We evaluated recurrence rate and complication rate with mitomycin-C and without mitomycin-C after the operation of pterygium in 113 eyes. The 112 patients(113 eyes) underwent simple surgical excision, whose mean age was 50.7 tears, and whose follow-up period was 6 to 12 months. 0.04% solution of mitomycin-C was instilled to 61 eyes and not to 52 eyes. Recurrence was noticed in 12 out of 61 eyes(19.6%) among the group not using mitomycin-D and in 2 out of 52 eyes(3.8%) among the group using mitomycin-C after pterygium operation. One eye in patients using mitomycin-C showed severe corneal edema due to endothelial decompensation by the toxicity of mitomycin-C. It is concluded that mitomycin-C ws effective to prevent recurrence after pterygium operation, but we should be aware of the severe complications by the toxicity of mitomycin-C.